| Trudl Bachman | |
| Fictional Character | |
| The Hot War POD: November, 1950 | |
| Appearance(s): | Fallout; Armistice |
| Type of Appearance: | Direct |
| Nationality: | West Germany (born in Germany) |
| Date of Birth: | 20th century |
| Occupation: | Housewife |
| Spouse: | Max Bachman |
Trudl Bachman was the wife of Max Bachman, a printer in Fulda, West Germany in the years between the Second and Third World Wars. Trudl remained in Soviet-occupied Fulda when the ground-war of World War III began in February 1951, while Max was part of the fighting retreat through West Germany. In June 1951, the MGB arrested Trudl and several other women, including Luisa Hozzel, the wife of Max's employee Gustav Hozzel, for counterrevolutionary activities.[1]
They were placed on a train and sent to a gulag in the east.[2] She wound up somewhere in the Jewish Autonomous Region not far from the town of Smidovich. She and the other women prisoners were promptly stripped, bathed, and shaved by male guards. Then she was assigned a uniform and number,[3] and soon fell into a routine in the camp over the course of the remainder of the summer: wake up at 0530, breakfast in the form of gruel, a visit to the latrine, and then work. She and Luisa Hozzel were assigned to cut down trees with a two-person saw.[4]Snow started falling in October, and Hozzel and Bachman were soon treated to a proper Siberian winter and the accompanying work conditions.[5]
As time passed, Bachman grew increasingly fatalistic about seeing Germany or her husband again. In Spring 1952, Hozzel she noticed Bachman was much friendlier with the various people who ran the camp. When Hozzel asked about the relationship, Bachman denied it, but also defended herself, reminding Hozzel that the odds of surviving the camp were small, and that they needed to consider any option to survive.[6]
A few weeks later, the guards discovered that five women from Bachman's barracks had escaped. Bachman knew nothing in advance, and had not helped them. However, the women of the barracks were placed in a punishment cell. Bachman came out of her five-day confinement more determined to survive.[7] She was disturbed when Maria was captured not long after her escape.[8] In June, 1952, Hozzel and the rest of the prisoners were informed that Joseph Stalin had been killed. While Bachman and Luisa Hozzel could see the parallels to Hitler's death in 1945, neither were particularly upset. The guards, on the other hand, openly wept.[9]
Things grew even more confused after Lavrenty Beria, Stalin's immediate successor, was ousted by Vyacheslav Molotov. While the fighting in Europe stopped, the prison camps were uncertain how to precede. Moreover, Bachman came to believe that none of the prisoners were going home.[10] In desperation, she began trading sex for favors. When Hozzel confronted Bachman after a day's work, Bachman indignantly proclaimed that she wasn't hungry for the first time since they'd been taken prisoner. Bachman also asserted that they weren't going home.[11] However, Bachman was wrong: a few weeks later the German woman prisoners were repatriated,[12] although they were sent west under less-than-ideal conditions.[13]
The Soviet train carried them to the border of West Germany. They stood in line at a control point. Bachman learned that her husband, Max had survived. Hozzel, however, learned that her husband Gustav was dead. Hozzel was embittered by Trudl Bachman's luck. To make matters worse, when they returned to Fulda, both found that their homes had been leveled by bombing.[14] Bachman set up a lean-to on the rubble of her house; Max found her there when he returned home.[15] In October, 1952, the Bachmans learned that their insurance company would not cover Max's printer shop because it would had been destroyed by an act of war.[16] While Max stewed, he concentrated on getting Trudl healthy again. Trudl, however, refused to discuss her time in Siberia, although she was soon given to nightmares. However, as the days of desperate living in Fulda ground on, Luisa Hozzel, in a fit of pique, informed Max that Trudl had had sex with one of their guards while they were in the gulag.[17]
Max resented the revelation.[18] The Bachmans' marriage grew strained as December arrived, particularly at the physical level. Ultimately, Max realized he could understand Trudl's decision, and the two tried to work things out.[19]
References[]
- ↑ Fallout, loc. 338-397, ebook.
- ↑ Fallout, loc. 338-397, ebook.
- ↑ Ibid., loc. 1553-1611.
- ↑ Ibid., 2093-2152.
- ↑ Ibid., loc. 4062-4124.
- ↑ Ibid., loc. 5716-5777.
- ↑ Ibid. loc. 6269-6329.
- ↑ Armistice, pgs. 46-49.
- ↑ Ibid., pg.s 82-85.
- ↑ Ibid., pg. 141-144.
- ↑ Ibid., pgs. 187-191.
- ↑ Ibid., pgs. 229-231
- ↑ Ibid., pgs. 248-251.
- ↑ Ibid., pgs. 311-341.
- ↑ Ibid., pgs. 323-327.
- ↑ Ibid., pgs. 357-361.
- ↑ Ibid., pgs. 366-370.
- ↑ Ibid., pgs. 397-398.
- ↑ Ibid., pgs. 398-400.
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